Fractional Expansion & New Store Development Leader

About the opportunity

We are looking for a senior Expansion & New Store Development leader to work with a fast-growing food chain that is entering its next phase of rapid expansion.

This is a fractional leadership mandate for someone who has personally built and scaled the engine behind rapid multi-location expansion.

The mandate is not simply to manage individual store projects. It is to bring structure, speed and predictability to the entire new-store creation process.

What you will be responsible for

• Build a scalable new-store development and expansion playbook
• Drive the process from site identification and feasibility through to store opening and handover
• Establish clear timelines, milestones, ownership and governance for multiple concurrent openings
• Work closely with leadership on location feasibility, store formats, capex and unit economics
• Manage architects, contractors, vendors and other external partners
• Identify and resolve bottlenecks that slow down store openings
• Create a repeatable operating rhythm that can support rapid expansion across multiple cities
• Ensure new stores are opening-ready across projects, operations, people, technology and supply chain
• Track project timelines and costs and provide leadership with clear visibility on progress and risks
• Build internal capability so that the organisation can eventually manage the expansion engine independently

The ideal profile

We are looking for someone who has actually led rapid new-store rollouts, rather than someone whose experience is primarily in running an existing restaurant network.

You should ideally have:

• 15+ years of experience in QSR, F&B, retail or another multi-location consumer business
• Experience leading rapid store / outlet expansion
• Personally taken multiple locations from site selection / feasibility to opening
• Experience managing several stores simultaneously across cities
• Strong understanding of capex, project management, contractors, vendors and timelines
• Experience creating processes and governance for scalable expansion
• Strong commercial understanding of store-level economics and ROI
• The ability to work effectively with founders / promoters and senior leadership

Experience of having opened 50+ stores/outlets would be highly desirable.

This is a fractional leadership role

The expected engagement is approximately 2–3 days per week, with the flexibility to increase involvement during critical phases of expansion.

This could be particularly attractive to:

• Former senior QSR / F&B / retail expansion leaders
• Experienced operators who have moved into consulting or advisory work
• Independent consultants / operating advisors
• Senior executives looking for a fractional leadership mandate

What success will look like

The successful leader will help the organisation move from opening stores to building a predictable, scalable store-expansion engine — enabling the business to open more locations, faster, with greater control over cost, quality and timelines.

If you have personally built and scaled a multi-location expansion engine, we would love to hear from you.